Clinical outcomes in TMD patients after arthrocentesis with lysis, lavage and viscossuplementation

Abstract in proceedings of the Fourth International Congress of CiiEM: Health, Well-Being and Ageing in the 21st Century, held at Egas Moniz’ University Campus in Monte de Caparica, Almada, from 3–5 June 2019.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Severe intracranial haemorrhage in neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia

Neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia is a rare (1/1000-5000 births) life-threatening disorder, caused by fetomaternal incompatibility for a fetal human platelet alloantigen inherited from the father, with production of maternal alloantibodies against fetal platelets, leading to severe thrombocytopenia and potential bleeding. Intracranial haemorrhage is the most feared complication. This report presents the case of a term newborn infant, born from caesarean section after a normal pregnancy, presenting signs of skin bleeding with different ages. Obstetric history included a previous spontaneous abortion after amniocentesis. Severe thrombocytopenia (4×10(9)/l platelets) was found and brain ultrasound showed multiple intracranial haemorrhages. Human platelet antigen (HPA) phenotyping showed maternal negative HPA-1a and paternal positive HPA-1a platelets. Strongly positive anti-HPA-1a and weakly positive anti-human leukocyte antigen class I alloantibodies were found in the mother. Multiple platelet transfusions, intravenous immunoglobulin and corticosteroid were given but favourable response was accomplished only after a compatible platelet transfusion. Brain MRI showed multiple subacute and chronic haemorrhages

Early magnetic resonance imaging control after temporomandibular joint arthrocentesis

Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) lysis and lavage arthrocentesis with viscosupplementation are an effective treatment for acute disc displacement (DD) without reduction. Clinical success seems to be related to multiple factors despite the lack of understanding of its mechanisms. The authors present a case report of 17-year-old women with acute open mouth limitation (12 mm), right TMJ pain-8/10 visual analog scale, right deviation when opening her mouth. The clinical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diagnosis was acute DD without reduction of right TMJ. Right TMJ arthrocentesis was purposed to the patient with lysis, lavage, and viscosupplementation of the upper joint space. After 5 days, a new MRI was performed to confirm upper joint space distension and disc position. Clinical improvement was obtained 5 days and 1 month after arthrocentesis. Upper joint space increased 6 mm and the disc remained displaced. We report the first early TMJ MRI image postoperative, with measurable upper joint space.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Differential associations of APOE-epsilon 2 and APOE-epsilon 4 alleles with PET-measured amyloid-beta and tau deposition in older individuals without dementia

Purpose: To examine associations between the APOE-ε2 and APOE-ε4 alleles and core Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathological hallmarks as measured by amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau PET in older individuals without dementia. Methods: We analyzed data from 462 ADNI participants without dementia who underwent Aβ ([18F]florbetapir or [18F]florbetaben) and tau ([18F]flortaucipir) PET, structural MRI, and cognitive testing. Employing APOE-ε3 homozygotes as the reference group, associations between APOE-ε2 and APOE-ε4 carriership with global Aβ PET and regional tau PET measures (entorhinal cortex (ERC), inferior temporal cortex, and Braak-V/VI neocortical composite regions) were investigated using linear regression models. In a subset of 156 participants, we also investigated associations between APOE genotype and regional tau accumulation over time using linear mixed models. Finally, we assessed whether Aβ mediated the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between APOE genotype and tau. Results: Compared to APOE-ε3 homozygotes, APOE-ε2 carriers had lower global Aβ burden (βstd [95% confidence interval (CI)]: − 0.31 [− 0.45, − 0.16], p = 0.034) but did not differ on regional tau burden or tau accumulation over time. APOE-ε4 participants showed higher Aβ (βstd [95%CI]: 0.64 [0.42, 0.82], p < 0.001) and tau burden (βstd range: 0.27-0.51, all p < 0.006). In mediation analyses, APOE-ε4 only retained an Aβ-independent effect on tau in the ERC. APOE-ε4 showed a trend towards increased tau accumulation over time in Braak-V/VI compared to APOE-ε3 homozygotes (βstd [95%CI]: 0.10 [− 0.02, 0.18], p = 0.11), and this association was fully mediated by baseline Aβ. Conclusion: Our data suggest that the established protective effect of the APOE-ε2 allele against developing clinical AD is primarily linked to resistance against Aβ deposition rather than tau pathology

Cosmogenic gamma-rays and the composition of cosmic rays

We discuss the prospects of detecting the sources of ultra-high energy (UHE) cosmic ray (CR) nuclei via their emission of cosmogenic gamma-rays in the GeV to TeV energy range. These gamma-rays result from electromagnetic cascades initiated by high energy photons, electrons and positrons that are emitted by CRs during their propagation in the cosmic radiation background and are independent of the simultaneous emission of gamma-rays in the vicinity of the source. The corresponding production power by UHE CR nuclei (with mass number A and charge Z) is dominated by pion photo-production (~ A) and Bethe-Heitler pair production (~ Z^2). We show that the cosmogenic gamma-ray signal from a single steady UHE CR source is typically more robust with respect to variations of the source composition and injection spectrum than the accompanying signal of cosmogenic neutrinos. We study the diffuse emission from the sum of extragalactic CR sources as well as the point source emission of the closest sources.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

Robocasting of Cu 2+ & La 3+ doped sol–gel glass scaffolds with greatly enhanced mechanical properties: Compressive strength up to 14 MPa

This research details the successful fabrication of scaffolds by robocasting from high silica sol–gel glass doped with Cu 2+ or La 3+ . The parent HSSGG composition within the system SiO 2 –CaO–Na 2 O–P 2 O 5 [67% Si – 24% Ca – 5% Na – 4% P (mol%)] was doped with 5 wt% Cu 2+ or La 3+ (Cu5 and La5). The paper sheds light on the importance of copper and lanthanum in improving the mechanical properties of the 3–D printed scaffolds. 1 h wet milling was sufficient to obtain a bioglass powder ready to be used in the preparation of a 40 vol% solid loading paste suitable for printing. Moreover, Cu addition showed a small reduction in the mean particle size, while La exhibited a greater reduction, compared with the parent glass. Scaffolds with macroporosity between 300 and 500 µm were successfully printed by robocasting, and then sintered at 800 °C. A small improvement in the compressive strength (7–18%) over the parent glass accompanied the addition of La. However, a much greater improvement in the compressive strength was observed with Cu addition, up to 221% greater than the parent glass, with compressive strength values of up to ∼14 MPa. This enhancement in compressive strength, around the upper limit registered for human cancellous bones, supports the potential use of this material in biomedical applications. Statement of Significance: 3D porous bioactive glass scaffolds with greatly improved compressive strength were fabricated by robocasting from a high silica sol–gel glasses doped with Cu 2+ or La 3+ . In comparison to the parent glass, the mechanical performance of scaffolds was greatly improved by copper-doping (&gt;220%), while a modest increase of ∼9% was registered for lanthanum-doping. Doping ions (particularly La 3+ ) acted as glass modifiers leading to less extents of silica polymerisation. This favoured the milling of the glass powders and the obtaining of smaller mean particle sizes. Pastes with a high solid loading (40 vol%) and with suitable rheological properties for robocasting were prepared from all glass powders. Scaffolds with dimensions of 3 × 3 × 4 mm and macro-pore sizes between 300 and 500 µm were fabricated

The role of calcium (source & content) on the in vitro behaviour of sol–gel quaternary glass series

To highlight the effect of salt precursors on the final properties, bioactivity and biocompatibility, five quaternary (Si–Ca–P–Na) glass compositions were successfully prepared through two distinct rapid sol–gel routes; one using acetate salt precursors (A) catalysed by nitric acid, and the other using nitrate salts (N) and citric acid as a catalyst. The sols dried rapidly, and stabilised at 550 &amp; 800 °C to be characterised by X–ray diffraction (XRD), Magic angle spinning–Nuclear magnetic resonance (29Si MAS–NMR) and Fourier transform infra–red spectroscopy (FTIR). Upon immersion in simulated body fluid (SBF), hydroxyapatite (HAp) formation was initially enhanced by increasing Ca–content up to 40 mol%, but the formation of calcite was favoured with further increments of Ca to 45 and 48 mol%. The A–glasses exhibited lower density and lower network connectivity compared with N–glasses. The chemical surface modifications after 4 h in SBF were more evident for N–glasses in comparison to A–glasses. The biocompatibility is favoured for the samples treated at 800 °C and for the samples of the higher silica contents

Robocasting: Prediction of ink printability in solgel bioactive glass

Bioactive glass powders synthesized by solgel are usually porous and exhibit high specific surface areas, conferring them poor ability for scaffolds fabrication using colloidal processing approaches. The difficulties associated with colloidal processing of solgel glass have hindered so far the processing of 3-D scaffolds by robocasting. This research paper investigates the importance of calcination temperature (CT) and balls to powder ratio (BPR) used upon wet milling on the maximum achievable solid loading in aqueous media. The effects of CT, BPR, and solid loading on the flow behavior and viscoelastic properties of the suspensions/pastes were evaluated in this preliminary work. The aim is to disclose the sets of experimental variables that are most promising for the formulation of printable inks, and open the way for the future fabrication of porous scaffolds by robocasting and other 3-D additive manufacturing techniques